With three votes for Aftermath, odds are that'll be the RtD. I'll get to work on drafting the post up in a day or two.

If you look at the FG lounge, I've been working on something else for the last couple of days :p

As you can see, this thread is coming back online.

So, action plan.

Tomorrow On tuesday I'm going to finish that roll. Then once we have all the actions in, the next roll will have a completely rebuilt colony status system to streamline the game. Event system and morale are gonna get redone from the ground up and will probably be unrecognizable.

After the rebuild, I hope to roll *at least* once a week. For too long has the Forum Games section slumbered, especially the RtDs I have made. I plan to change that. Come hell or high water you have my word of honor I will roll this game.

EDIT : Forgot that Sunday and Monday are the game day between me and my brother. So fix on Tuesday and hopefully a roll every Wednesday from that point on. I trust this is satisfactory?

I need to look up more Primordium Lore.

Halo's roll is done. I hope it was worth the wait!

And I highly recommend everyone reads that roll, I put a lot of work into it. Remember, since everyone has a communication satellite up you can talk to one another and I would *highly* recommend communicating to one another about this threat.

Expect the next roll on...Friday or so. I'm still planning on how to restructure the resource system.

So wait, we're still doing this RtD? Not the post-apocalyptic one?

Yeah. I decided against leaving a trail of half finished RtDs and decided to push forward and finish this one.

Nice. Are my previous actions still OK?

Yep, good with me. Just waiting on Halo to action.

sorry for the wait. school and all. (And I found out, I suck at speeches <-- that's supposed to be a happy face)
--------------------------------------------
>Send the rescue team and the expedition back.
>Let the colonists know of the threat and the rescue.
*Speaker-thing turns on* Men and women of the Kyran allegiance, our expedition has been rescued and is safe, but we are now under the threat against an enemy strong in force and numbers. We will show the enemy that they will not wear down the people of the kyran allegiance. We will show them no fear, no mercy, no weakness. Let this war be fought in our terms and our rules.
>Set up defenses around the colony and the ship.

Alright, after some work here is an example of the new colony tables. I've used Keb's data for the example.

Colony Statistics
Population & Consumable Resources
3996 colonists.
Housing : 3996 people are currently homeless.
Food : 16,000 - 4000 = 12,000.
Water : 42,000 - 8000 = 34,000 + 15,000 = 49,000
Consumer goods : 5000 units of consumer goods. Consumption paused.
Industrial Resources
900 units of metal.
93 multirole industrial machines.
Power generation : 97 units of unused power per turn.
998 - 2 = 996 units of heavy metals.
Military Assets
Thirty crewmen.
Five firehouses.
10 ATV-R vehicles
Enough equipment to equip three hundred soldiers.
1950 units of ammunition.
300 A+ rated harsh environment suits.
25 specialist weapons.
Research and Production
One more turn to complete excavation of colony ground. Estimated habitable space for five thousand settlers. DELAYED

Thoughts on the new tables? I'm shifting most of the stored cargo from the colony ships to the colony info, leaving only things connected to the ship like the point defense and the metal making up the craft itself. Not only is this easier for me to deal with, it's also nicer looking in my opinion.

I hope it makes life easier for you guys. As I said earlier, with fortune on our side, there will be a roll tomorrow.

Roll is here. I did it in separate post to buff thread in traditional dice manner. Remember, your colonists are good at everything, but not great. They've been trained to be all rounders. The roll will be coming in segments for this first part, since A) These parts are huge, a lot of stuff going on and B) updating the colony statistics grid is..tedious, to say the least. But after this nuRoll™ is complete, all future rolls will be a simultaneous affair. I've spent nearly four hours on this segment alone. You can't rush art as they say.

1st February, 2062. Two months since planet fall.

----

Supradynamics United - CrazyMLC
[9] The director uses the radio to speak to his colonists. "We can only last so long at a loss of food, and I'm making it my personal mission to solve this crisis. Together, united, we can fix this - but we have to get moving, people." The automated former and twenty five multipurpose machines are activated and are loaded with newly reanimated maize seeds, fresh from the gene vaults. The advanced mainframe configures the advanced former while the crew check the other multipurpose machines and fit the tools. Motors grind to life as the advanced former drives over to the elevator. Hydraulics push the heavy elevator down onto the planet's soil and acclimatizes it's treads for maximum efficiency while the twenty five multipurpose machines follow it out. They turn in unison and drive over to the river where they find a ford. The automated former is first to cross before being followed by the many machines, clusters of natural grass growing alongside the river.

After arriving at their destination on the far side of the river, the automated former tills the soil while ten of the multipurpose machines plant the seeds into the soil with the remaining multipurpose machines working on irrigation. It doesn't take long before the work is finished and harvest will be ready next month. Until then, another month of preserved food rations.

[7] The director gives a few more words while the machines are farming. "If you put something on your plate you should eat it! We can't afford any waste right now, we have to work hard to get on our feet. We can do this!"They colonists agree with his sentiment but food consumption remains the same, people are already only eating the needed amounts for maintaining the status quo. The director turns to the computers and consults the expert system which starts to check the database for usable information. "After searching the database for relevant information, I have come to the conclusion that the best method of bolstering our food stocks is to search the consumer goods. My data indicates that approximately one five hundred units of luxury foods has been loaded as consumer goods. Cargo manifest information indicates the following food breakdown of the luxury foods. One hundred units of chocolates. One hundred assorted pastries and cakes, one hundred units of alcoholic beverages, assorted. One hundred and fifty units of snacks, assorted, but approximately 60% are potato based. The remaining fifty units are assorted items, not limited to but including, various cheeses, prepared animal products, rare fruits and more. They can be released at your discretion, director. In addition, the use of vitamin supplements may be able to reduce food consumption by replacing fruit as a source of essential vitamins. This will have a detrimental result on morale and eventually, crew health, but may work as a short term solution. Again, the choice is yours."

[10] The ATV is radioed to tow the object back to base and the driver disembarks to grab attach a cable to it. She walks around the wreckage to find a good latch point and finds a hole torn into the side at an angle, blowing out one side and straight out the other. She pushes the hook through the hole and around again, tying a knot to ensure it doesn't fall loose. The surface of the metal is covered in an hexagonal grid and covered in strange inlets in the centre of each hexagon. After a half hour drive back to the colony site, a few self titled scientists get their hands on it and after consulting the mainframe, a report is readied for the director. The metal itself isn't of much interest, it's a simple polysilicate alloy, resistant to explosions and the like but not new to human science, a similar material was invented on Earth, but too late to be put into the colony ship frames, but was infact used in the A+ rated environmental suits as a layer of armour to resist micrometeorites.

But behind the metal plates, once they've been removed from the frame, shows a large number of unknown devices connected to the ports on the plating surface. After a week of analysis and study, a theory is formed. The director heads down to an improvised lab in one of the smaller cargo bays, the scientists are gathered around the metal fragment with a few whiteboards scattered around with theories and mathematics on them. "Director, we really don't think that this plating is from the outside of the spacecraft it was a part of. The mainframe and a group of colleagues have been taking a look at it for days now and we are a hundred percent sure it's not from the hull. The mainframe measured it's dimensions and calculated it to be part of some kind of sphere, but with an opening at the top for...something. We don't have all the pieces here, director. These devices under the surface of the polysil, they are far beyond our science. One of my boys is thinking shields like out of those old science fiction films, but that doesn't make sense, these things seem better suited for absorption than repelling. It'll tak-" A test running on the metal fragment in the back causes a small explosion and a young scientist cheers.

"Haha! I knew it!". The scientist the director was speaking to runs over to this cheering scientist. "What the hell did you?""I know what it does, doctor!"

She sighs, then answers. "What does it do then, José?"

"Alright, first let me run you through my set up." He walks over to some strange looking tube, aimed at the metal. "This is an electron gun, I, uh, ripped it out of one of the really old fat TVs in the cargo bay, from the luxury goods? Anyway, when turned on it shoots electrons forward, in this case straight into that plating. The plating interacts with the electron, mind if I turn it back on?" "Of course, show the director your theory."

José turns on the electron gun and it glows slightly as it powers up. Shortly after tiny explosions start erupting on the surface of the metal piece. After being left for thirty seconds, the engraves between the hexagonal plates turns green. He quickly turns the machine off and the color fades. José speaks up, nervously. "That was...new. But director, I think it's absorbing the electrons created by the gun, but I don't think that's what it's intended to do. I'm sure it's part of a power plant of some kind, but without the other pieces we can't do anything with it." The advanced mainframe takes the chance to speak up. "Director, after calculating the approximate size of the device and analyzing the energy release from the electron bombardment, I must agree with Dr. José. The artifact appears to be part of a reactor, however there are several parts missing. Most notably is the generator required to create the particles for interaction with the absorption grid, but most importantly, a controller for the entire unit. Additional artifacts are required to complete the unit, but this artifact piece can be replicated, once we have the appropriate facilities. We will need a suitable refinery plant to create the alloys along with a semiconductor fabrication facility to create the absorption relays."

Colony Statistics
Population & Consumable Resources
4000 colonists.
Housing : Enough for 4000 people
Food : 12,600 - 3400 = 9200 + 600 = 9800.
12000 units of food harvested next turn.
Water : 45,750 - 1250 = 44,500 - 3000 = 41,500.
Consumer goods : 5000 units of consumer goods. Consumption paused.
Industrial Resources
795 units of metal.
113 multirole industrial machines.
Power generation : 100 - 1.25 ( prefab housing) - 1.50 (housing) = 97.25 units of power.
996 - 2 = 994 units of heavy metals.
Military Assets
10 ATV-R vehicles
Enough equipment to equip three hundred soldiers.
1950 units of ammunition.
300 A+ rated harsh environment suits.
25 specialist weapons.
Research and Production
Multipurpose industrial machines : 20 underway, thirty complete. Time remaining : 1 turns. Consuming one metal for each unit.

SKY-W FRONTIER


Chernogradost-Golgotha Popular Directorate - Kebbit
[10] The Overcaptain grabs a microphone, disappointed at the slow progress being made by the excavation teams. "The threat has been crushed. We will not go homeless out of simple fear. Finish excavation, deploy hydroponic systems and residence for our people.". The excavators, hearing the displeased voice of their Overcaptain, redouble their efforts. Determined to not let him down, they work like demons, day and night until the caverns are complete. Motivational music is played over the radio as they work and their meals are brought to them as they dig. One by one, rooms are excavated and then handed over to the waiting builders as the miners move onto the next room. Even the strongest rocks are crushed beneath the strength of a large and disciplined work force and this is no different. Piles of boulders are hauled out of the excavation area, with the thunderous sound of dozens of picks echoing throughout the country side, drowning out almost all other sound. By the end of the month, the entire excavation work is done and the entire area is ready to go.

Construction crews move in, taking a hundred units of metal with them and they convert the excavated rooms into bunkhouses, kitchens, dining areas and hydroponics bays. Electrical cables are extended from the colony ship network into the base and lights spark into action, illuminating the cavern clearly and shining enough light out that even the colony ship itself is lit. Electrical heaters and air filtration units are installed, colonists no longer need to wear those pesky little masks while inside the colony structures which are kept at a comfortable temperature for man, machine and plant. The excess rock hasn't been forgotten, either. Much of it is lumped outside the colony cave entrance, organized into makeshift barricades while other pieces are dumped. The cryogenic tanks of the four thousand initial settlers are removed from the colony ship and repurposed into hydroponics tanks, according to the design schematics. Fast growing crops are readied for them. While not the most enjoyable meals, they will suffice for the purpose the Overcaptain demands.

Water pipes are attached to the tanks after being installed in many of the excavated rooms and a colonist, after looking through the gene vault finds something that could help augment the diet of the colonists. Prawns are to be cultivated in the hydroponics tanks alongside the growing crops, allowing an extra piece of variety to the Chernogradost-Golgotha diet. The month ends with the first harvest of both prawns and hydroponic crops.

[8] While the excavation is ongoing, the Overcaptain gives out more orders to his officers from across his new stone desk. "Remove a number of the best and brightest citizen-workers from their current environment and drill them in established techniques of agronomy and crop genetics." His officers nod and obey, they are wise enough to know that disagreeing with the Overcaptain's wisdom is...a poor career move. Besides, his orders are sound, what reason would the people have to disagree with their beloved leader? While the colonists are all trained to an equivalent level and selected on being good all rounders, the Popular Directorate needs thinkers. They spend days browsing over crew manifests, logs and reports to find the wheat in the chaff. A person with above average exam scores, someone capable of thinking outside the box, people who used to tend gardens, they are all interviewed by the officers in sequence. Soon enough, just over a hundred candidates are found and put into a crash education course covering genetic principles, a history of crop genetics and more. Indeed, it's during one of this sessions that a scientist, browsing the gene vault finds the prawns suitable for use in the hydroponic tanks.

Given a few months of training, this scientific group will be a force to be reckoned with and are already searching a name for themselves. The Agricultural Committee, perhaps?

[2] After sending his officers out to find suitable minds for agriculture, the Overcaptain turns his agenda to defense. While the people of the Popular Directorate are a strong and fierce breed, he needs a dedicated military, people suitable for defending the colony and capable of growing into the military when the colony comes of age. He calls in that popular man, Fedot Matveev, the man who led the assault against those bugs underneath the cavern. The man shows talent for commanding troops and would make an ideal commander of the militia. Fedot arrives just under minute from being sent, apparently he was surveying the perimeter around the colony entrance for ideal defense placement. "Assemble a hundred-strong militia with rifles and an explosive launcher to each tenth soldier. Send them off in pairs of recon vehicles; northwest, northeast, south, west, east." The newly promoted Captain Matveev, promoted for the great success fighting off the beasts, is given the task to perform. He nods and leaves the Overcaptain's office and heads to the entrance of the colony where he finds the five firehouses and their crews relaxing, one of the crew members painting an image of the Wawel dragon onto the side of his firehouse. He grabs the radio near them and gives out the Overcaptain's orders. "The Overcaptain commands that we assemble a one hundred man militia. Equip them all with rifles with a rocket launcher to ten men and divide them into ten squads and deploy them to the ATV-Rs. Send them to the colony ship for inspection." A feminine voice responds from other side of the radio. "Understood comrade-captain!"

After an hour, he heads over to the colony ship staging ground where the hundred men are waiting. Or rather, should be waiting. Loud music blares from the ATVs and the "troops" are drinking what appears to be, what smells to be, alcohol. Captain Matveev is stunned at this lack of discipline, but is willing to forgive it this once. He approaches one of the more sober men and say, "What is that racket and what are you drinking?" The soldier smiles and gestures to the ATV behind him, the emblem of the Directorate on the hood. "That's Hell March, it's from this one really awesome game, we are playing it through the communication system. And this..." he gestures to the bottle. "This...this is genuine Belvedere! I couldn't affo-" He stops dead in mid sentence as Fedot grabs him and starts dragging him to the Overcaptain to demonstrate the lack of discipline in Directorate troops. On the way there, he mentions something to the soldier. "Did you know stealing from a military warehouse is a crime punished by the death sentence?"

Colony Statistics
Population & Consumable Resources
3996 colonists.
Housing : Enough housing for 5000 colonists.
Food : 12,000 - 4000 = 8,000 + 6000 = 14,000
Water : 49,000 - 8000 = 41,000 + 15,000 = 50,000 Full capacity - excess lost.
Consumer goods : 5000 units of consumer goods. Consumption paused.
Industrial Resources
800 units of metal.
93 multirole industrial machines.
Power generation : 97 units of unused power per turn.
998 - 2 = 996 units of heavy metals.
Military Assets
Thirty crewmen.
Five firehouses.
10 ATV-R vehicles
Enough equipment to equip three hundred soldiers.
1950 units of ammunition.
300 A+ rated harsh environment suits.
25 specialist weapons.
Research and Production


United Fourfold Commonwealth of Nundinates - Foa
[9]The Helmseer speaks to the Mainframe for some advice while a thousand people defrost. I'm curious as to what the other matter there is in the air, and if the iron is the only genuine risk there is. Other than that, What's the terrain like on the way to the mineral deposits, and what kind of designs do we have for locomotion? If we have any. ""Analyzing. Please hold."

A minute passes before the Mainframe returns it's attention to the Helmseer. "After analyzing both atmospheric content, soil samples recovered by the automatic formers and logs of the ship's reentry, I have come to the result that this planet was recently hit by an asteroid. Soil samples contain a large quantity of nitrates but are covered by the dust from the asteroid impact. I believe this may have caused a large biosphere die off. If the colony ships did not arrive, I estimate that the planet would've eventually recovered to it's natural state on it's own. However, thanks to the aforementioned die off, it has provided us with the opportunity to start terraformation with a clean slate. Much of the biosphere appears to have collapsed in the wake of the impact.

Other scenarios are also potentially viable. A supervolcano eruption could also cause damage on a similar level. Data indicates that by the second year since Planetfall the atmospheric dust will start to settle. It is important to note that the dust in the atmosphere is infact cooling the planet. Once the dust has settled, temperatures will rise to a comfortable twenty three degrees celsius. While relatively warm, it is well within tolerance limits for human physiology. This will encourage plant growth world wide, which in combination with the effective eradication of the previous biosphere should provide for substantial harvests. I highly recommend sharing this data with the other colony sites in exchange for sensor data from their sites to give the missing data needed to deduce the exact cause for the planet's current state.

On the topic of designs, the United Nations decreed that no military vehicles should be stored in the database in an attempt to stop the proliferation of warfare in space, especially since there are not that many people left. It was only after several weeks of debate that the ships were allowed to include an armoury and the ATVs. However, a number a civilian vehicles were stored in the database for construction after the ships arrived in order to save space. Based on present colony location, economical and environmental situation, I have narrowed down the list to two potentially useful vehicles.

The White Star Industrial design for an electrically powered rail engine allows for high cargo capacity with rapid transit. It has substantial pulling power, as demonstrated on Earth thanks to it's role in moving colony ship parts between production sites. This design has a fairly short history, only entering service five years before Impact. They are fairly expensive to produce, requiring approximately fifty units of metal for the main engine unit and an additional twenty units of metal for each cabin or ten units of metal if they are instead cargo flatbeds. The main issue is setting up the necessary network.

The other recommended vehicle is from Poseidon Maritime Ltd, the PM-7 hovercraft. As you know, hovercraft are capable of operating at high speed across all terrain. Indeed, the PM-7 was the final competitor with the ATV-R for the position of scouting vehicle, thanks to it's capacity of holding thirty personnel in comfort with a three man crew. The PM-7 was utilized before Impact by a large number of nations as a marine transport and also served a vital role as a search and rescue vehicle in flooded areas since it can effectively navigate flooded streets, even with objects in the way. It will require fifteen units of metal for the construction of a PM-7.

Regarding terrain between the colony and the metal deposit, it appears to be fairly hilly with the metal deposit itself embedded into a hillside. With the proper use of machinery it should be easy to turn into a mine."

Remembering a vehicle from her time on Earth, the Helmseer instead sends out orders for a self propelled wheelbarrow balanced on a single wheel. While some of the colonists at first think she has lost her mind, initial results are promising and a working prototype is completed this turn. While much smaller than the final model, it is capable of carrying a few gallons of water around in a relatively small vehicle. The colonists also find an ideal way to get them to automatically follow one another by copying the design from the modular machines and downsizing. They start work on the larger models and they should be completed by the beginning of next month.

In the mean time, an advanced former, loaded with twenty five units of metal and assorted cargo, followed by a hundred colonists travels to the ore deposit across the terrain. After a few delays as the colonists change the path there to get around more rough terrain they arrive. The large hill is quickly torn open by the advanced former, creating a tunnel entrance suitable for the workers to start work. Meanwhile, the hundred colonists set up a large building containing fifty beds, a kitchen powered by batteries and a communal dining area. There are enough beds for fifty colonists, so they decide to take shifts. Fifty of the colonists will rest in bed while the other fifty work in the mine. Mining the ore is hard work and would be accelerated with the use of machinery, but the advanced former easily does the work of many people without rest.

[10] While the Motor-Barrow (Give me a name for them if you want, otherwise expect a sort of engineering style designation) is being worked on and the expedition readies itself to leave to the mining operation site, the remaining colonists not busy with the harvest get to work on a production plant, starting by dismantling one of the three remaining engines, freeing up two hundred and fifty units of metal. Whilst the automated former can't be used in a factory without effectively dismantling and rebuilding the entire machine, it can help with constructing the building and towing materials around. With it's aid, the construction of a manufacturing facility containing twenty five machines, giving it the capability of producing twenty machines a month at the cost of fifty units of metal for the building's shell. If the workforce manning the machines had a special training course in operating the multi-purpose machines, they would be able to increase productivity. But thanks to the strong Nundinate work effect, they can already produce thirty machines a month for the same cost in resources by reducing resource waste and working even harder than they already do.

[5] With all the work that has gone on, only the hardest task remains - harvesting crops. The majority of the colony's population works on this as it is highly important to restock the colony with precious food. The colonists trawl through the rice paddy, generally enjoying the outside experience. The rice plants themselves grew relatively well, with the average height being 1.2 meters tall and being healthy at the same time, thanks to the complete and utter absence of any pests to harm them. They are hauled back to the colony ship with the use of the multipurpose machines, processed and then stored in crates. On the evening following the harvest, the remaining colonists have a sort of harvest party involving *large* quantities of rice derived foods. Rice pudding, rice bread and the occasional rapidly produced rice "wine", even a few of the workers at the distant mining outpost make the trek back to the colony ship for some of the food. While a small fraction of the food and almost all of the alcohol tastes terrible, spirits are high thanks to the realization that the people have grown their own food, processed it and ate it, all on an alien world. While the crew feast, the Advanced Mainframe starts it's task of setting things up for crop rotation. Potatoes are the next to be planted, but that work will have to wait thanks to the feast causing delays in tasks.

Colony Statistics
Population & Consumable Resources
5000 colonists.
Housing : Enough housing for 5000 colonists.
Food : 18,000 - 5000 = 13,000 + 20,000 = 38,000 Over capacity - Resources stored in corridors.
Water : 42,000 - 10000 = 32,000 + 12,000 = 45,000 DM note : The water ratios were adjusted, they are meant to be twice the population and for some reason you were gaining six thousand units of food a turn instead of six thousand units of water because I was busy being a derp. I do apologise.
Consumer goods : 5000 units of consumer goods. Consumption paused.
Industrial Resources
175 units of metal.
75 multirole industrial machines.
Power generation : 97.5 units of unused power per turn.
998 - 2 = 996 units of heavy metals.
Military Assets
Enough equipment to equip a hundred soldiers.
1000 units of ammunition.
100 A+ rated harsh environment suits.
Research and Production

Supreme Ark, Bellowing Nautilus


ThraxoCorp - Tomaster
[5]The CEO, after making up his decision, sends for the leaders of both groups. The woman from before and the leading member of Rock-B-Gone arrive for his decision. He turns to the RbG representative and after a few seconds of silence speaks. "While I appreciate your design, we may need to save the lasers on the ship for a more military orientated role. If you could come back to me with a combat design, I might consider that. For now, we're going to go with Titan Manufacturing's design." The woman grins and then speaks. "Thank you. I'll get in touch with the work teams to start making the preparations. I promise, you won't regret this decision." She then turns and walks out the door and heads off to the part of the colony Titan Manufacturing have set up shop in. Meanwhile, the "head" of Rock-B-Gone turns to face the director and discuss the potential for a military application. "Well, in their present state the laser weapons onboard the colony ship are already formidable weapons, but they weren't intended as a front line combat weapon, more something to blow up small chunks of rock or anything threatening the assembly of the craft itself. They fall short against anything with decent armour... Hmmm. The main problem is a general lack of experience with laser weaponry. The laser defenses on the colony ship are just upscaled versions of the ones from Earth. The main obstacle is power supply, there's only so much punch you can get out of a given power supply and that is what has kept laser weapons from supplanting regular ballistic weaponry. Maybe, just maybe, if you let us have a sort of testing range for us to work on one of the assemblies, we might be able to refine the design. Like the rest of the colony ship, the lasers were rushed in both design, manufacturing and fitting. After all, a lot of inventions have been born out of sheds, who knows, maybe practical laser weaponry is the next one?"

Elsewhere, a group of seasoned engineers give a cheer. They make a run to the colony ship and grab fifteen multipurpose machines which they first use to strip twenty five plates of metal off the colony ship frame, mostly hull plating from the belly of the colony ship. Then, as quickly as they arrived, they make off with their prize back to the Titan Manufacturing neighbourhood where, in the streets and in the houses, they work together on all the different parts of a Hephaestus II Mining vehicle. As a week passes, a few large machines start to take shape under a tent attached to the side of one of the houses. While at first, nothing more than heavy steel frames sitting above two sets of tracks, they quickly start taking shape according to the schematics taped to the wall. The engineers arrive day and night to work on the vehicles, the hardest engineering challenge of the project being the motors needed to power the vehicle; the original Hephaestus II on Earth had a custom built motor, but the ones that the multi-purpose machines have is much smaller. Work continues on the other parts of the vehicle, but the engine bays sit empty while the engineers work on ideas.

The first idea to come up is to try and fabricate a new engine. Machining wise, it'd be possible, but they'd need to create a large electrical motor from parts that they simply don't have available. The second thought is to create an internal combustion engine, proposed by one of the older engineers who checked the cargo manifest showing that the colony ship, like all it's cousins, in fact had two hundred units of petrol stored in the "consumer" goods section of their cargo holds. There were *quite* a few different items in those things and he definitely thinks searching the cargo hold for unlisted, misplaced or mislabeled items would be a good idea.

In the end, by a vote, welding together several of the motors from the multipurpose machines into a sort of motor-battery, a crude solution, is what passes for the first vehicle to get at least one up and running before the end of the month so that the CEO has some results. But a more permanent solution must be found, whether that's fabricating new electrical or petrol engines. Running the motors in that sort of battery is a disgrace the engineers agree to both the motors, the Hephaestus, Titan Manufacturing and to the very word "Engineering" itself. They take no pride in their work as they dismantle the multipurpose machines and rip their hearts out, their electrical drive systems, then weld them together into an abomination of a motor. After being lowered into the engine bay, connected to a daisy-chained battery group and connected into the vehicle's propulsion system, they prepare to start the engine. A young, twenty six-ish engineer climbs into the half assembled cabin and inserts the engine start key then hits the power switch. The battery bank is fine, yet the engine won't start.

The old engineer climbs atop the engine compartment and looks down at the motor assembly. He shouts, "I don't have time for this!" and kicks the motor assembly with a steel toe capped boot. The motor grinds for a second against the casing then whines as it comes to life. The young engineer spins the vehicle around on the spot and the motor groans but gets the job done. The rest of the month is spent getting all the H2MVs as functional as they can be without engines. Meanwhile, the working one is driven in front of the colony ship, touched up here and there and covered with a curtain ready for the grand unveiling.

The CEO and much of the colony gather to see what the engineers had been working on all this time. The leader of Titan Manufacturing, Miss Ophelia Waterman, stands in front of the curtain. Just to the left of the curtain is a pile of the ore mined earlier. "It's as ready as it'll ever be. For the record, I think the motor will blow. Atleast I'm not driving this thing..." Miss Waterman steps behind the curtain very briefly. "Shut up or I'll make you drive it!" "I'll be good." The engineers then get out from under the curtain, stand in front of the vehicle with Ophelia as she gives a speech. "Back on Earth, before Destiny impacted, in the area of industrial machinery there were only a few big corporate names. The biggest, ThraxoCorp. The second was Titan Manufacturing! Back from the dead like Lazarus, both companies have survived the end of civilization! Each and every one of us owes a massive debt to ThraxoCorp for being so generous to bring us with them on their colony ship, companies that on Earth were the fiercest of rivals! And not only did they bring Titan Manufacturing, they brought others, too! White Star Industrial, Poseidon Maritime, Artemis Defense and many, many more were brought along on the ship. And here we are, on this new world, a world of untapped resources, a world of limitless potential! The CEO asked our company to build the nation, yes, the *nation* a mining vehicle and we answered his call. Even a thousand of these machines would not pay off our debt and as the saying goes, "Capitalists stick together in tough times, they remember who their friends are." And so, with great pleasure, I give you the Hephaestus II Mining Vehicle!""I'm impressed, even I didn't think you were that good of a bull♥♥♥♥ spreader. Companies sticking together? Pffft. Either way, fingers crossed."

She steps forward and pulls the cover off the machine, revealing the machine for all to see. The ThraxoCorp badge is shown clearly on the side of the vehicle and on the driver hatch. Large and wide tracks under the vehicle support it's heavy weight. "Show these good people what the Hephaestus can do!"

A puff of white smoke comes out the back of the engine bay along with what the human imagine might consider to be the scream of an electric car. "Well, we had a good run. I'm off to go kill myself."

After a few seconds, however, the engine comes to life or rather, undeath. Occasional bursts of white smoke erupt from the back of the vehicle, but the vehicle lumbers on throughout all of the demonstrations, even through a number of close calls where the motor fell silent for a few moments, most notably during the crane test. Other than that, the vehicle performed perfectly. While only one is ready, the other four only need engines and they'd be good to go.

[9] While Titan Manufacturing work on the H2MV, the CEO sends out another design request. This time for an improved multipurpose machine. Titan Manufacturing is too busy working on the H2MV and Rock-B-Gone is currently doing the numbers on laser weaponry, so three new groups step forward. White Star Industrial, a well established manufacturing company back on Earth, Explorer Motors, a large motoring company with a number of big name brands under their flag and last but not least, The Rothenberg Group, a super corporation from Earth that designed and manufactured the nuclear reactors for the colony ships. The Rothenberg Group are the first ones to make a presentation thanks to the group's stature. White Star Industrial will be second and Explorer Motors third.

Mr. Rothenberg himself arrives to give the presentation. While past his prime and ready for his son to take over the family business, he can still give a presentation on his own. Carrying a paper file of schematics "Hallo, I am Mr. Rothenberg, CEO of the Rothenberg Group that carries my name. Like the rest of the colonists, we saw your message for a new industrial machine. I am sure you are familiar with the power of German engineering and the prestige of the Rothenberg Group, they need little introduction. But you may not be so familiar with the machines we've made, yes?"

He opens the folder and puts four photographs on the table, one for four different variants. On the back of the photographs are technical specifications and schematics.

"As you can see, we abandoned multipurpose machines in the early twenty first century and instead focused on specializing our designs. The first machine is an agricultural vehicle, the second an all purpose industrial machine and the third is for mining. The fourth is a military engineering vehicle, designed for the construction of field fortifications."

Looking at the back of the photographs, the information seems to give the impression that, while the vehicles can only do their job, they do it twice as well as a regular multipurpose machine. The designs are simpler than the ones for the multipurpose machines too with less areas to break down under strain. But the real interest is the Kampftechnik Fahrzeug III, abbreviated as the KTF-3. It is capable of bridging rivers, sweeping minefields, salvaging armoured vehicles and more. A large dozer blade on the front allows it to easily clear most barricades. Looking from the armour specifications, while not designed for close range combat, it's armour would easily shrug off small arms fire while providing some protection against anti-vehicular munitions.

As for cost, the multipurpose machines can be converted on a one to one ratio for the price of one unit of metal for fifty conversions. Metal has come to be the currently accepted currency among the colonists thanks to it's many uses but it is hoped to be replaced by a dedicated currency as soon as possible.

For the KTF-3, however, three units of metal are needed in addition to three multipurpose machines if not being built straight off an assembly line. One unit of metal as payment for ten KTF-3s. While it can't be converted into a tank, the vehicle is armoured like one and equipped to salvage one. But a similar problem to the Hephaestus II may present itself as the design schematic calls for a V12 engine, something not exactly commonly available right now.

After Mr. Rothenberg leaves, the next executives come in, these from White Star Industrial. As they step into the office it becomes quite clear these aren't executives, they are engineers, a younger one with a blueprint under his arm seems to be the one in charge. "Go on, start the demonstration already." "Alright, alright. Here we go... Hello, we are the engineering team from White Star Industrial, you probably remember us from the competition to get the vehicle contracts for the colony ships? Anyway, we noticed the posting for the new industrial machine design and we immediately got to work drawing something up. We designed this vehicle over an afternoon, it'll probably go through a few revisions before it's finalized.

He puts the blueprint on the table and rolls it out. A large wheeled vehicular base is on the drawing, with notes about the suspension, structural composition, battery location and the like...But strangely enough, no machine tool package. "There's a very good reason that there isn't a tool package preinstalled, we came up with the idea to, instead of building the tool sets directly into the vehicle we would instead create a vehicular framework that then has the tools installed onto it! This lets us work most on making the base of the vehicle as robust as possible, then work on the tool package. We've got a few concepts going around for two different tool packages. One is a field package designed to carry all round industrial tools for both farming and mining leading to an increase of fifty percent in productivity! Not just that, but the wheeled nature of the vehicle means the vehicle is equipped with several redundancies - each wheel is powered separately by an electric motor. The second tool package is a industrial package equipped with a large number of tools. The idea is that the finished vehicle will be able to move around a manufacturing floor or stay still and work on a single object. In addition, we think that with some armour plating, we could make a military version, maybe with a machine gun!"

"Or as a mobile land mine." "Or yes, as a mobile land mine, flame turret, mortar and more."

They then leave after a short chat with the CEO about specifications, cost and more.

The vehicle frames would cost two multipurpose machines each and two units of metal. A third unit of metal can be added to provide armour plating, turning the vehicle into a sort of automated drone. As yet, the project is unnamed but the engineers seem open to suggestions regarding it's name if the project is approved. The vehicles are remotely controlled from a distance, allowing the vehicle to delve into hazardous areas without risk to a crewmember. On a factory floor the vehicle is capable of moving out of the factory or staying still and working on an object. If the factory was, for instance, being bombed this would allow the machines to head to a bomb shelter, protecting them from damage.

Finally, the team from Explorer Motors arrives. Unlike the other two teams who came in purely with documents, this team brings in a box, slightly larger than a dog but by the look of it much more heavy thanks to it's need to be carried by two fully grown men. Setting it down on the CEO's table, one of the engineers turns to the CEO and makes a brief statement.

"We're Explorer Motors, long history of vehicular excellence yadayada. Instead of me giving a speech as to why you should choose us over the competition, I will allow our work to demonstrate why you should choose us."

He then pulls a plug on the side of the crate and the whole box falls apart, it's sides falling away. A large block of metal with two groups of three cylinders both set at an angle at the top of the block, with the Explorer Motors badge on the side of the body. It only takes a second for the CEO to realize what's infront of him. Surely they couldn't have built an internal combustion engine in a day?

"We've been working on getting one of these baby's running on this planet ever since we arrived. The dust in the air plays hell with the engines but we solved that problem a few days ago by using a bunch of air filters to stop the gunk getting into the engine. Now, these things *work* infact, you'll be able to see for yourself. "

He motions to one of his colleagues who steps forward with a bottle of gasoline and pours it into a improvised gas tank, then pulls a cord. The engine sputters for a second, then starts. Without any control to manage the flow of fuel into the engine it runs at a leisurely pace. The engine fires away gently on the table surface for fifteen minutes before they stop the flow of fuel.

"Now, our filtration methods will work on, I promise you, *anything* that takes an air input. Jet engines, factory machines, you name it. Not only that, but we make these things on an industrial scale. I tell you, we can make two hundred of those beauties for around five units of metal. From scratch, no dismantling of the existing machines. And if you want we can make bigger engines, V8s, V12s, V16s, all the way up to V32s. This little V6 here has two hundred plus horsepower! If we put one of these in a multipurpose machine, all it's tools will go twice as fast."

One of his accomplices gives documentation regarding the V6s. Two of them will consume in a month one unit of petrol. While surveys haven't been done yet to find any fossil fuels, it may be a good time to check the local environment for any oil or coal or anything usable in the engines. Biofuels would also do the job, too. They are cheap to produce, the main resource cost is the operation of a large number of them. Everyone on the colony ship remembers the consequences of excessive petroleum use on Earth, both good and bad.

Sorry for the delay, rest is coming tomorrow. God this roll is titanic.

[4]

Colony Stats :
4000 colonists.
Housing : 4000 people are currently housed, with room for another thousand
Food : Colonists are eating the food from the colony ship. 20,000 - 4000 = 16,000.
Water : Colonists are using the water from the colony ship. 50,000 - 2000 = 48,000.
Power : 100 units, none consumed. Two units of heavy metals have been depleted.
Production :
1000 units of ore ready to be smelted into 1000 units of metal. Smelting facilities required.
Morale : 80% : Good.
Base morale : 50%
Morale modifiers :
A new world, with plenty of resources! + 10%
That's a lot of gold! + 10%
More than enough housing for everyone + 10%



Kyran Allegiance - Halo117
[7]
[3]
[4]

Colony Stats :
5000 colonists.
Housing : 5000 people are currently homeless.
Food : Colonists are eating the food from the colony ship. 20,000 - 7000 = 13,000.
Water : Colonists are using the water from the colony ship. 50,000 - 14000 = 36000.
Power : 100 units, none consumed. Two units of heavy metals have been depleted.
Production :
Morale : 55% : Good.
Base morale : 50%
Morale modifiers :
A new world, it shouldn't be too hard to live here! + 10%
Beach front property, anyone? + 5%
Where did the 2000 go? - 10%


Minds of the World Combined - Unwoundpath
[9]
[8]
[7]

Colony Stats :
3000 colonists.
Housing : 3000 people are currently homeless.
Food : Colonists are eating the food from the colony ship. 20,000 - 3000 = 17,000.
Water : Colonists are using the water from the colony ship. 50,000 - 6000 = 44000.
Power : 100 units, none consumed. Two units of heavy metals have been depleted.
Resources : 1000 units of metal.
Production :
Morale : 75% : Good.
Base morale : 50%
Morale modifiers :
A new world, with plenty of new things to study! + 10%
Native life?!? + 10%
Can we go for a swim? + 5%